Hey guys! I Saw somebody posted the other day with all the new refrigerants coming out you know, during the recording of this video we're currently in the middle of the phase down of 410A refrigerant and soon we should start seeing more and more products be introduced to our Market with these newer refrigerants r454b and R32 And the comment was something to the effect of with all these new refrigerants, that everyone's gonna have to buy new equipment to support these new refrigerants. And specifically, he noted that vacuum pumps, recovery machines, and gauges would all have to be replaced. and I thought I would do a video on that because I don't do a lot of videos that pertain to heating and air professionals per se. I Think there's people in the industry that are way better than I am at that.

I've always kind of focused on sharing information with homeowners, sharing information with consumers, trying to help them navigate through this very complicated industry with all kinds of information. but I thought this information would be pertinent to throw out there because I think there's a lot of misinformation out there. so I just want to roll through through this I think there's some confusion and I'm hoping to clear a lot of that up with this video. First of all, all that is for the most part untrue.

Just because there's new refrigerants being added to the market or replacing refrigerants on the market, it does not necessarily mean that all of the equipment's going to have to be replaced. As far as the tools and the things that we use to do our work. For example, a vacuum pump does not care what kind of refrigerant you're going to put in that system. I did not have to run out and buy a new vacuum pump when we switch to 410A refrigerant and stopped using R22.

In fact, there were days where as long as I was changing my oil often, there were days that I was working on both refrigerants in one day pulling vacuums on systems. Again, the vacuum pump has no idea what refrigerant you're going to be putting in that system. So for someone to say that you're going to have to replace your vacuum pump because you're switching refrigerances in my mind, just simply not true. The only thing that I would even think could affect this: I Know, years ago there were certain oils being put in the systems and things like that that were affecting the O-rings and so if you were going to do say A Drop in refrigerant or something like that, you would have to go through and replace all your seals.

But other than that, I can't imagine why anyone would think that you would have to replace your vacuum pump. So if someone tells you that that they've got to buy all new equipment including a vacuum pump, that's just simply not true. Next, let's talk about recovery machines. Recovery machines are what's used to remove the old refrigerant before you do any work to a system before you possibly put new refrigerant in there, the machine's meant for you to get all that old refrigerant out of there before you do your work.

And so the question is, would you have to get a new recovery machine or a different recovery machine with these new refrigerants I Think the answer to that question is maybe I think there's some moving Parts With that I think there's some things to consider I Read several articles on this before I decided to do this video and and a lot of them are saying no, you you would not. Our recovery machines will work with all these different refrigerants and you know you don't need to just up and replace a recovery machine. I Think if you are recovering a refrigerant that's not rated for that recovery machine, then maybe you might have to consider that I Know, years ago when we had R22 with the higher pressures that 410A had in comparison to R22, you had to make sure that your recovery machine can handle that. but as long as you have a recovery machine, That's rated for that refrigerant.

The interesting thing about a lot of these refrigerants that we're seeing introduced to the market, they are actually composed of other refrigerants in some cases. So when you take something like r410a refrigerant, All Sport 10A refrigerant is is an equal composition of R32 and r125. So to say, oh well, you're getting rid of r410a and putting in a system that has R32 to say that this new refrigerant has something in it or something that would be high harmful to that recovery machine. It's just simply not true.

A lot of the refrigerants that we're using that are composed of some of these other refrigerants. It just simply doesn't make any sense. So again, if you have a recovery machine that is reclaiming this refrigerant I Think in most cases, the answer is no, you don't need to get a new recovery machine. But maybe there are going to be some instances out there that you might have to use a different one or get a new recovery machine.

I Know guys that do a lot of commercial work will sometimes have different equipment based on what type of system they're working on, but in residential we don't see that a whole lot. Next, let's talk about gauges. If you're installing a system or working on a system with one of these new refrigerants in there, will you have to get new gauges? I Think again. Ultimately, as long as your gauges are rated for the pressures that you're working on, the answer is no, you won't have to replace those gauges Now you might say well.

Josh I Don't see on the little dial I Don't see my refrigerant listed Or if you're using digital gauges I Don't see the refrigerant listed. It does not necessarily mean you can't use those gauges on there, you just might have to do some math. You might have to figure out your saturation temperatures based on the PSI, but it does not necessarily mean that you can't use those gauges for that system. As long as those gauges are rated for the pressures that you're using them for and you can do the math, then you should not necessarily mean you have to just run right out and get a new set of gauges for every single refrigerant that comes out.

A lot of refrigeration guys have the same set of gauges and they use them on different refrigerants all the time. They just have to do the math and figure out what their actual pressures are or temperatures are. but the gauges are rated for those pressures. So to say that you have to run out and buy all this new equipment or these gauges because of these new refrigerants again is just simply not true.

So that covers the tools. Another thing that we're talking about in this post that I was reading some of the comments and they were talking about line sets. Do the line sets need to be replaced with these new refrigerants coming out? And ultimately again, there's there's different scenarios I'm sure someone can comment on this video and say, what about this scenario I'm sure you can maybe figure out a scenario that it would make sense, but ultimately, as long as you're doing everything properly, flushing line sets when you're supposed to, making sure there's no acidity and things like that. but the line sets themselves, as long as they don't have any leaks or anything like that, do you need to replace them again? The answer is no.

In fact, a lot of technicians over the years had R22 systems much lower pressure than 410A systems that they were replacing them with and they were still reusing the line sets anyway. So again, to say you need to replace your line sets because of these new refrigerants. Ultimately, the answer is no. In most cases, as long as you're doing everything properly, as long as you're following the manufacturer's specs and doing what they want for that new system, ultimately, the answer is no, you don't have to replace line sets every time just because the refrigerant is different than the one that was in there.

Now again, I'm sure I'll get comments. they'll say, what about this scenario? What about the refrigerants mixing And you know I'm not saying any of that I Think in general, we're just saying, should you and by rule, replace the line sets Every time you're replacing the system and it has a different refrigerant, the answer is no. So if you're a homeowner or a consumer and you've got a technician that's saying that all these things need to be done and they want to charge you higher rates because of that I Think that there might be some instances where that might be true, but in a lot of cases you might want to get a second opinion. What they're telling you may not be true, and unfortunately in our industry there's a lot of that people that are just not quite being 100 truthful with everything that said.

Did I miss something? Is there something that may need to be replaced or done If you're switching refrigerants? Please comment down below: Smash that like button that helps so much and I appreciate you watching hit that subscribe button. We'll see you next time.